Back For That Dance
by Adrian Tyndall
Summary: Seventy years after he went in to the ice, Steve Rogers woke up in New York. Captain America had come back when the world needed him most. One promise he'd made still ate at him, stripped away by a powerful, little blue box in 1945. Now, in 2014, a different blue box would give him the chance to fulfill that promise...


"Do superheroes really exist?" she asked, running her fingers along the console absently.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his voice – and eyebrows – higher than normal.

"I just meant, y'know, real superheroes," she said. "Like the comics."

"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," he replied shortly. It wasn't the first time he'd used that line, and she was just as amused as the first time he'd said it. "But apart from that, I suppose they do, somewhere. Why, d'you want to meet one?"

"Is that possible?" she asked, her attention suddenly on him.

"Suppose so, yeah," he answered. "Let's see... Here we go!" He pulled a lever and the craft lurched violently, the engines groaning in protest. The two of them held on to the console for dear life, him watching the screen, and her watching him. After a couple of minutes, he pushed the lever back into position, and the vibration and lurching stopped as suddenly as they'd begun.

"Where are we?" she asked, recovering her balance and walking toward the blue, faux-wood door.

"This, Rose Tyler, is April of the year 2014. Washington, D.C."

"America?" Rose asked, blinking at him in disbelief. "We're in the United States?"

"You were just in Utah," the Doctor said, furrowing his brow. "A few meters under Salt Lake City, but still America."

"But we're not in some vault, or dungeon, there's no Daleks... are there?"

"No. Nobody here but humans. Plain, stupid old humans, and a few that are less plain," the Doctor answered. "Come on." He took her hand and led her out of the TARDIS, and into the early morning sunlight.

"So why are we here? Who are we supposed to be meeting?" Rose asked. They walked along a popular site, the rectangular body of water in the National Mall, the Washington Monument towering above them. On the opposite side, they saw a man jogging.

Rose jumped when she heard heavy footsteps pounding behind her, and a man's voice saying, "On your left." Another man passed her at a run, and all she could see of him was a muscular build and short, blond hair. He was moving at an amazing pace, rounding the corner ahead before she knew it.

"That was him," the Doctor said, smiling.

"Who?"

"The man you wanted to meet," came the reply. "Captain Steve Rogers, a tiny, humble little kid from Brooklyn, who was determined to fight in the war, but was too small for the Army to take. He entered an experimental Army program and ended up becoming a superhero. One of the first superheroes, really."

"That's... That's _Captain America?_ " Rose asked in disbelief. "That's really Captain America?"

"That's the one," the Doctor answered.

"On your left," he said as he passed them again. Rose hadn't even realized he was behind them again, and was even more impressed with his speed as he raced around the fountain.

Barely two minutes later, she heard an exasperated voice cry out, "Oh come on!" As she turned to look, she saw the dark-skinned man build up to a sprint as he made a futile attempt to catch up to Captain America. She started to smile, but thought better of it. Meanwhile, the Doctor was beaming like Father Christmas again.

xxxxxxxxxx

A few hours passed. Rose and the Doctor found breakfast, then took a small tour of Washington. They visited the Smithsonian, and Rose got to see an exhibit centered around the man they'd come to see. She discovered she didn't know nearly as much about the man as she thought. Mickey would be so jealous!

"There he is," the Doctor whispered. Rose looked up and followed his line of sight. Her eyes fell upon a tall man wearing a jacket and baseball cap. A little kid was standing beside him, and she heard an audible gasp as the child's eyes went from the man standing beside him, to an old poster of Captain America, and back again. The man put a finger up to his lips and smiled, and the excited child ran off.

"Go on," the Doctor said, giving her a gentle nudge. Rose slowly approached the hero, and saw him studying another old photograph. The plaque underneath it read "Bucky Barnes". She wanted to approach him, to say something, but she stopped when she saw the somber expression on his face.

He moved on, and the Doctor and Rose followed him from a distance, still studying the displays as they went. They saw pictures of the Howling Commandos, and the Doctor explained how they were a team assembled from rescued prisoners that pledged to follow Steve Rogers to hell and back.

When they found him again, Steve Rogers was in a small theater where a video was playing. A brown-haired woman was giving an interview, her clipped British accent relating a tale in which Rogers had fought through enemy lines to save half a battalion of men who had been trapped. Rogers studied the film, seemed to be reliving it but, Rose noticed, seemed to also be reliving the woman.

"Who's she?" Rose asked in a whispered voice.

"Dunno. You'll have to ask him yourself," the Doctor said, nodding at Rogers. He had pulled a trinket out of his jacket pocket, opening it and studying it for a minute before closing and replacing it. He stood and walked away from the theater, right toward the two time travellers.

"She was important to you, wasn't she," Rose asked quietly as he passed. He stopped, looked her right in the eyes, piercing her with a blue gaze. She felt a thrill run through her.

After a few tense moments, he nodded. "She was..." he gave a soft chuckle. "She was my best girl. First person I saw when I came out of the serum chamber. First person I wanted to see when I came out of the ice. I just didn't realize how long I'd been under."

"What was her name?" Rose asked, either not realizing or not caring how impertinent she was being.

"Peggy," Steve said. "Peggy Carter."

"Lovely name," the blonde answered. "I'm Rose, by the way. Rose Tyler. And this is the Doctor."

Steve shook each of their hands in turn. "Sorry, I'm not really in the mood for autographs. I was actually about to leave before somebody recognized me."

"Oh, no trouble," the Doctor said. "Rose wanted to come here and see some of the sights, so here we are. Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Doctor... uh... what was your name again?" Steve asked.

"The Doctor. Just the Doctor," came the reply.

"Right," Steve said, slightly perplexed. "Excuse me."

As the big man began to walk away, Rose hurried after him. "What if you could see her again?" she asked hurriedly.

Steve stopped, and turning to speak over his shoulder, said, "That's where I'm going now. Trouble is, she's not the same girl anymore. She got older, I didn't."

"But what if you could go see her then?" Rose pressed.

That seemed to get his attention. He turned around and approached them carefully, a shrewd look on his face. "What do you mean? Like a hologram, or...?"

The Doctor pursed his lips, breathing heavily through his nose. "No, what Rose meant was-"

"What if you could go back and see her again, as she was then? Go back to the 1940s and see her?" Rose interrupted, keeping her voice at a whisper so they weren't overheard.

Steve took a few moments to consider. "It's a nice thought," he said. "But you can only go forward. Can't go back."

The Doctor offered a small, but genuine, smile. "That's what you think," he said. "Come on."

"But I've got to go to-"

"We'll have you back before you know it," the Doctor interrupted. "And before anyone else knows it. Oh! And bring your suit."

"Where am I supposed to bring it?" Steve asked.

"The Washington Monument," Rose answered. "You'll see us."

Thirty minutes later, Steve was back at the National Mall, wearing his suit, his shield perched in the holster on his back. _What am I doing here...?_ he thought. _I should be visiting Peggy..._ Finally, he saw the two strange people who had approached him earlier. The Doctor, in a black leather jacket, and Rose, the girl who was so British she was wearing the Union Jack. They were standing beside something that definitely shouldn't have been in Washington, D.C., a blue, wooden box with the word Police on it.

"Ready to go, Captain?" the Doctor asked, flashing a smile.

"What, in there?" Steve asked, incredulous.

"I think you'll like it," Rose said. She opened the door and stepped inside, the Doctor following her.

Breathing a heavy sigh, Steve took a tentative step behind them. As he crossed the threshold, he reversed the process, gasping in surprise at his surroundings. What he thought was a simple phone box had turned into a mind-boggling mystery. "This is impossible," he said.

"Oh, there's a surprise. All the things you've seen and this is impossible?" the Doctor asked.

"It's called the TARDIS. Stands for Time And Relative Dimention In Space," Rose explained. "It's bigger on the inside, but the Doctor still hasn't explained how that works."

"Alien tech?" Steve asked.

"Right! You lot have encountered aliens here too!" the Doctor said. "Fantastic!"

"I wouldn't call it fantastic," Steve said, frowning. "They tried to level half of Manhattan. A lot of innocent people died and even more were hurt."

"Right. Sorry," the Doctor said, clasping his hands behind his back and looking at the floor.

"So you said I could go back and see Peggy in the 40s?" Steve asked, arching an eyebrow. "How's that work?"

"Right! Off we go then," the Doctor said, running up the ramp to the console in the center of the room. Rose and Steve followed, and Steve watched as he excitedly manipulated controls, seemingly at random. "Hang on!" the Doctor shouted and he pulled a lever. Rose already had her hands braced on the console, and Steve's reflexes caused his hand to shoot out and grab the railing behind him.

The room shook, and Steve asked, "What's going on, Doctor? Is there an earthquake?"

"Don't worry, it does that!" Rose shouted over the wheezing, groaning noise coming from the pillar at the center of the console.

After a few minutes, the Doctor pushed the same lever back into place, and the shaking stopped. Steve's eyes were wide with surprise. "What happened?" he asked.

"We're here!" the Doctor said.

"Where is here?"

"England. 1945. Tail end of World War Two," the Doctor answered.

"So four years after we left the last time?" Rose asked.

"Last time?"

"We were here before. Stopped people from turning into gas mask zombies during the London Blitz," the blonde answered, waving it off as if it were an every day occurrence.

"Forty-one," Steve said. "Bucky was enlisting in the Army, and I kept getting rejected. Wow."

"And now the war's over," the Doctor said. "Hitler meets his end at the end of April, and little by little, the German war machine shuts down all over Europe. The Allies win, heroes are celebrated. Probably none more than a tiny little kid from Brooklyn, who managed to grow up into the first real superhero the world had ever seen."

Steve smiled. "I wasn't trying to be Superman. I just wanted to be a good soldier."

"Oh, you were. Fantastic, in fact," the Doctor said. "You had something most other soldiers didn't want. You had compassion. You were a man of the people. Still are. But there's one person out there who loved you more than anyone."

"I wondered what happened to her after I went into the ice," Steve said. "Seeing the video at the Smithsonian didn't make it easy. But I figured she'd died while I was under, along with everyone else. Then I found out she was still alive. I didn't expect that."

"Seventy years is a long time," the Doctor said. "Better not keep her waiting any longer." He nodded toward the door.

Steve turned, walking slowly down the ramp. He placed a hand on the handle and stopped. "What am I gonna see when I open this door?" he asked.

"Something you should've seen a long time ago," the Doctor answered.

Steve nodded, and gave the handle a tug. The door creaked open, and he stepped outside.

Rose began to follow him, taking care to zip up her jacket before leaving the safety of the TARDIS. The Doctor followed, closing the door behind him.

xxxxxxxxxx

Steve Rogers couldn't believe his eyes.

When he stepped into the blue box, he'd been in Washington D.C. It had been the middle of the afternoon. But now it was night time. A crescent moon floated in the sky overhead, and he stood on a terrace overlooking a lake. A chill was in the air, and he thought it felt like autumn, even though it had been the middle of spring before.

And there, leaning against the wall of the terrace, was a brunette in a red dress. From what he could see, it was a conservative cut, and had to be a fairly thick material to offer warmth from the autumn chill. But then, Peggy had always been more sensible than most women he'd met.

He approached her silently, stealthily. "Doesn't seem like your kind of party," he said. She jumped, startled, and whirled around to face him. She looked so beautiful. The exact way he'd remembered her, had dreamed about her. It really was her.

"Steve?" she asked tentatively. "How can you be here? Your plane... you crashed in the ocean. They never found your body. This is impossible! Who are you?"

"I know I'm a little late," Steve said. "And this isn't the Stork Club. But I do still owe you a dance."

Peggy studied him for several long moments, determined to detect an imposter in her midst. His outfit had changed; his suit was now a white star, bordered on either side by two white stripes, set on a dark blue background. The shield, though, was the same. The exact same. "How can you be here?" she breathed.

Steve looked behind him, and Peggy saw a blue wooden box labeled "Police Box" that she hadn't noticed before. Standing outside it was a man with short, bristly hair and a leather jacket, and a young blonde girl wearing clothes she didn't recognize. "They brought me here," Steve answered.

"From Antarctica? In that wooden box?" Peggy asked, refusing to believe what she was hearing.

"No, they brought me here from Washington," Steve replied. "I know I just went into the ice a few months ago, for you. For me, though, it's been 70 years."

"Seventy... but that means you're from the future! That's not possible!"

"It's possible, Peggy. Look at Schmidt. The power the Tesseract had. You know nothing's impossible anymore," Steve said quietly.

"Oh Steve..." Peggy murmured. "I thought I'd lost you for good."

"Not for good," the man standing outside the Police Box said. "But I can't leave him here either. He's still frozen, here, in 1945. He has to go back to his time."

"So you brought him here to torture me?" Peggy snapped. "As tactics go, it's unorthodox, but there's nothing I can reveal that will do you any-"

"No, that's not why we brought him," the blonde said, rushing forward, her hands outstretched. "It's not torture. Captain Rogers wanted to see you. There was this... this film, where you thought he was dead. And he saw it and he was upset. He was upset because you thought he was dead, and he wanted you to know..." Her voice faltered, but Peggy was grateful for the quiet. It gave her a brief moment to assimilate what had been said.

"So why did you come back?" she asked at last, looking at Steve. "Why come back seventy years to see me now?"

"I came back for that dance I owed you," Steve said with a smile.

"You can't go inside, though. Everyone will see you," Peggy said.

"That won't be a problem," the blonde piped up. She carefully removed the shield from Steve's back, and carried it with her. She leaned it against the corner the box, and then she and the strange man opened the door to the box and stepped inside.

"You look beautiful tonight, Peggy," Steve said, once the door had creaked shut.

"And you look the same as I remember you," the brunette replied. "Still as handsome as ever. I'm not sure how I feel about the new suit, though."

"It's a style change. Probably won't stick," Steve said, wrapping an arm around her waist, and taking her right hand in his left.

"You know there's no music," she said, giving him a small smile.

"That a problem for you?" Steve asked, looking into her eyes and returning the smile.

"Not at all, Captain Rogers," Peggy answered.

Softly, quietly, then growing a little louder, the two of them heard music playing. Clarinets led saxophones in a gentle ballad. It was soft, slow, and perfect. The two of them revolved slowly on the spot, the rest of the world lost to them.

xxxxxxxxxx

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose watched the two. "It's odd to think about," Rose said.

"What is?" the Doctor asked.

"People think of Captain America, and they see this... this big superhero. This invincible soldier, saving people's lives. They don't see him, Steve Rogers, as the kind of man that goes out and dances," she answered.

"Lots of people dance. I thought we'd been over that," the Doctor said.

Rose smiled. "You're right. We did. And it was to this song," she said. "This was our first dance, too."

"'Moonlight Serenade.' Glenn Miller, 1938," the Doctor noted. "Want to go and meet him?"

"Yeah," Rose said, smiling. "But you said we can't leave him here," she added, pointing to the monitor.

"After we take him back then," the Doctor said. "Captain America has other friends from the past to find."


End file.
